A former U.S. Marine, nabbed in Canada for allegedly kidnapping a Connecticut millionaire, was in Toronto months earlier looking to recruit accomplices, authorities said yesterday.

The suspected ringleader, Renaldo Rose, 23, was arrested on Saturday at his aunt’s apartment by the Toronto fugitive squad, at the request of the FBI.

“We have information he was in Canada in September trying to recruit people for the kidnapping,” said fugitive squad Detective Sgt. Joanna Beaven. “But he wasn’t successful. None of the suspects were from here.”

Rose had allegedly escaped an FBI dragnet by driving the victim’s car, a Chrysler M300, across the border.

Rose was the last suspect nabbed in the Jan. 10 kidnapping of 40-year-old hedge-fund tycoon Edward Lampert, said to be worth $800 million.

Toronto cops arrested Rose as he was leaving his aunt’s.

“When we got him, he was in the hallway on his way out. Who knows where he was going. We caught him just in time,’ Beaven said. “He was real surprised.

“At first, he denied who he was but we found something significant on his person that linked him to the kidnapping,” she said.

She would not elaborate on what they found.

A canvass of the neighborhood recovered Lampert’s Chrysler parked on the street several blocks away.

Published reports say Rose, who received an honorable discharge from the military after a four-year stint, may have came across Lampert’s name while surfing the Internet looking for lists of wealthy businessmen.

Lampert was abducted from his Greenwich parking garage and kept shackled in a bathtub at the Day’s Inn in Hamden. He was freed after promising his kidnappers $5 million if they let him go.

The three other suspects were arrested at the hotel after they used a stolen credit card to order pizza. Rose was not at the hotel at the time.

Rose is scheduled to appear in a Toronto court today for an immigration hearing.

He is facing extradition to the United States, where he will be charged.